When you’re talking about a multi-purpose item, Saran Wrap takes the cake and covers it! First developed for commercial use in the food industry, the product has had lasting popularity since the 1940’s. Did you know, though, that it was created by accident?

In 1933, a DOW Chemical lab employee named Ralph Wiley was scrubbing vials when he came across one that he just couldn’t manage to get clean. The infamous chemical company’s researchers then decided to refashion the chemical into a green film, simply named “Saran”. Taking its anti-oxygen, anti-water, and anti-acid properties into consideration, the product was first marketed to the military and vehicle manufacturers in a spray form to use on planes and cars as a protective agent.

It wasn’t until 1949 that DOW realized the film’s potential as a food storage item and began selling it commercially to restaurants. After gaining widespread approval in the food industry, Saran Wrap finally hit the supermarket shelves for home use in 1953, where it remains a steadfast favorite to this day. Within the first twenty years of its inception, Saran Wrap had already been marketed for several purposes, and its usefulness in random day-to-day life has been growing ever since. Here are 35 of the most helpful but unusual uses for the famous film.

1. Poach Perfect Eggs

Have you ever tried your hand at poaching an egg? It’s trickier than you might think. Just a few short seconds too long and the egg is overcooked, or a few seconds too short and you’re eating raw yolks. Take a tip from the Kayotic Kitchen and use Saran Wrap to get the perfect poached egg every time.

2. Keep Your Fridge Clean

If you’ve got a large family, chances are your fridge is always full. This is especially true if you’ve got more than one person who likes to cook in the house. While an abundance of food generally isn’t a bad thing, having a full fridge can make it difficult to keep an eye on foods and liquids that have gotten shoved to the back over time, and that’s when leaks start to happen. If you find yourself in this situation the next time you clean your fridge, pull out the Saran Wrap to use as fridge shelf liners to make the next cleanup as easy as 1-2-3.

3. Remove Blackheads

Taking good care of your skin is an important part of anyone’s hygiene, but in today’s time-pressed society it can be difficult to always set aside the time for a deep facial cleanse. Unfortunately, nature wastes no time of her own in building up dust and gunk in your pores, resulting in an army of blackheads seemingly overnight. Before you start breaking into your budget for an overpriced facial, grab your Saran Wrap and head over to StyleTips101 to get the nitty-gritty on removing blackheads on the cheap. You can thank us later!

4. Uncork Your Wine

Wine is a beautiful thing. Sometimes people spend all day looking forward to sipping on a nice glass of red when they get home from their busy work. In fact, sometimes people are so excited that they end up breaking their cork off into the wine and destroying the whole bottle. Don’t let this be you. Next time, grab a large carafe and some Saran Wrap to de-corkyour vino.

5. Keep Your Cut Flowers Fresh

Millions of women love getting cut flowers as a gift. Whether it be from a romantic love, a good friend, or a family member, the beautiful smells and colors are almost always welcome. The only thing a girl hates about cut flowers is watching them die. While it won’t prevent your flowers from eventually dying out, wrapping the ends in a moist paper towel and covering them with Saran Wrap will keep them fresh much, much longer.

6. DIY Fruit Fly Trap

As Summer fades into the Fall season, you might notice everyone’s fruit bowls are filling up faster than they can eat it. After a few days at the bottom of the bowl, the fruit puts off a lot of smells that attract fruit flies by the hundreds. Is there anything peskier than fruit flies bombarding you while you’re trying to get dinner on the table? Well, say goodbye to the whole dilemma by using Saran Wrap to fashion a DIY fruit fly trap!

7. Weight Loss Aid

Saran Wrap is an incredibly versatile product, with hundreds of uses. One of the most popular of these is to help people shed unwanted pounds in a short amount of time, and it actually works. Keep in mind, though, that most of the weight you’ll lose is water weight. So wrapping yourself in Saran Wrap might not permanently shrink your waistline, but it can definitely help you slip into that dress for tomorrow’s party.

8. Protect Eyewear

Although Fall is a beautiful season, it can cause a lot of problems for some more than others. Folks who wear eyeglasses are definitely one of them. Cold temperatures cause the heat of your breath to fog up your specs, not to mention rain and mud splashing the lenses. One way for the seeing impaired to hack the season is to tightly cover the lenses of their glasses in Saran Wrap to keep them from getting mucked up during their daily routine.

9. Alleviate Burn Pains

Few things in life are more painful than a direct burn to the skin. Running cold water over the injury, while tempting, actually does more harm than good for the burn itself, though. If you’re looking for a way to quickly relieve a person from a burning sensation, Saran Wrap may be your answer. The film will cling to the body with ease and prevent oxygen from reaching the injury, which is the cause of the ongoing burn pain.

10. Protect A Fresh Tattoo

Tattoos have been escalating in popularity over the last few decades, and no wonder. With innovations in tattooing machines, ink, and artist’s techniques, you can have an artistic wonder embedded right into your skin. If you’ve recently gotten a tattoo and are wondering how to keep that ink as vibrant as possible, pull out your Saran Wrap. The film will help keep moisture and the ink in by keeping the oxygen and air pollution out, reducing pain and helping the tattoo to heal without scabbing over.

11. Insulate Windows

Wintertime is coming, and frigid temperatures are coming with it. If you’re like most people who don’t have $10,000-$20,000 lying around to get new windows installed, relax. There’s hope for you yet. Saran Wrap is a fantastic barrier, not just for liquids, but for air too! This makes it perfect for insulating your windows on the cheap so you can keep saving for later.

12. Nail Art

Why pay upwards of $30 for a fancy manicure when you can give yourself great looking nails on your own, for next to nothing? If it’s for the pretty nail art, you’ll love this DIY! The next time you go to paint your fingernails, choose two or more colors that compliment each other. Then paint your nails in layers, making sure the first layer is dry before applying the second. As soon as you’ve finished with the second layer for each nail, use a wadded up piece of Saran Wrap to dab at the nail for a frottage look.

13. Keep Ice Cream Soft

Ice cream from a freshly opened carton tastes like no other, and for good reason. After a container of ice cream has been opened and is then refrozen, you run the risk of freezer burning your ice cream. More often than not, you’ll end up on the losing side of that bet. Turn your luck around by covering your ice cream carton with Saran Wrap before attaching the lid. The film will act as a barrier and keep your ice cream oh-so-soft!

14. Cover Seedlings

If you want to get a head start on your growing season this coming year, you have the answer right in your kitchen. Saran Wrap is great for making mini greenhouses for your seedling. The flexibility of the film allows it to take on any shape, it sticks to itself, and it traps out cold. Simply cover your seedling pot or tray with the film and watch them grow!

15. Make Moving Easier

Before you go blowing your spare change on packing materials, try looking in your cupboard. Saran Wrap works great as a moving material. Instead of emptying that silverware holder, wrap it up, silverware and all! Have a small dresser to move, but want to leave the drawers intact? Give it a couple of wraps and those drawers won’t budge.

16. Never Deal With A Stuck Paint Lid Again

Painting a house is never fun, and it always takes longer than you expect it to. The last thing you need rolling into your second or third day on the job is for your paint to dry up and your lid to get stuck. Avoid getting out the pry bar by covering your paint bucket with Saran Wrap before securing the lid. It will pop off with ease when you go to use it again, and the barrier will keep your paint nice and wet.

17. Extend The Life Of Paint

If you’ve ever been interrupted during a paint session, you know what it’s like to come back to a clumpy, sticky paint roller. Once it dries like this, you can never get the paint to roll on smoothly again. The next time you’re painting, keep a roll of Saran Wrap handy. If you get interrupted, you can wrap the entire roller in the film, and when you remove it the paint will be good as new.

18. Protect Your Phone

Rainy days are ahead as the seasons keep changing. Although nature is slowing her roll to a crawl, your busy schedule isn’t going anywhere. The good news is if you have a bit of Saran Wrap, you can waterproof your phone so you can use it in all types of weather. This trick is equally helpful when you’re working in the kitchen, so no random spills or splashes dampen your day.

19. Keep Jewelry Chains Unkinked

Keeping things organized while traveling is hard enough. The last thing you want to deal with when you’re running late on your itinerary is to have to stress out over getting the knots and kinks out of your jewelry. Who knew that Saran Wrap can save your sanity? Just lay all the jewelry you plan to wear on top of one side of a large piece of Saran Wrap, then fold the second half on top of the jewelry and press down between the edges to seal in place. This works especially well with Glad Press N’ Seal.

20. DIY Travel Mug

If you’re in a hurry to get out the door, but can’t find your travel mug, there’s no need to fret. Just grab some Saran Wrap and tightly cover your cup. Then, poke a straw through the middle and voila! Now you have a makeshift travel mug. The film will lock your beverage in tight so you can enjoy your drink on the go without stressing over who took your mug.

21. Keep Camp Dishes Clean

Organization is key to a relaxing camping trip. One thing you don’t always have control over, though, is your water availability. You never know when your supply will get spilled or used up cleaning an unexpected mess. One way to reduce the amount of water you need access to is by wrapping your camp dishes in Saran Wrap. Then you can save your money instead of buying paper plates, and cleanup won’t require any water and can be done in a snap.

22. Perfect Pastry Shapes

The holidays are upon us, my friends, and with them all the decorative baked goods you can dream of. If you see ghosts and ghouls, turkey, Christmas tree and gingerbread men shapes in your cookie future, you’re going to love this hack. Put a piece of Saran Wrap between your cookie cutter and dough. When you press down you will get the perfect shape and edge on all of those festive goodies.

23. Watercolor Art

If you’re looking to try something new with your watercolor art, pull out the plastic wrap. As your paint is still wet, put a loose layer of Saran Wrap over the top of it, allowing it to get wrinkled as much or as little as you want. Then take your paintbrush, preferably a clean one, and dry brush over the film a few times. When you pull the wrap off, you will have beautifully blended textures running all throughout the parts you covered in a lot less time than doing it by hand.

24. DIY Grip Tape

Yet another amazing everyday use for Saran Wrap is to makeshift a handle grip on cooking utensils and garden tools. In fact, you can add grip to just about anything, from drumsticks to wrenches and hammers. The flexibility of the plastic film allows you to wrap it around just about anything, and if you wrap it thick enough, the bulk of the film will conform to the shape of your hand, giving you perfect grip every time.

25. Keep Bananas Fresh Longer

Unless you’re planning on making banana bread, chances are you want to prevent ripening as much as possible before you eat them. Saran Wrap is a Godsend when it comes to slowing down the ripening process on a bundle of bananas. Just wrap the stem of the entire bundle, or break them apart and wrap each stem individually to keep your favorite yellow fruit fresh and firm.

26. Prevent Product Spills While Traveling

Probably one of the most-used tips for Saran Wrap is to prevent spills and leaks in your travel bag. It’s popular for a reason. There’s nothing more frustrating than being far from home when you go to put on that adorable outfit you picked out months ago, just to find it covered in shampoo or body wash. You can easily prevent this by removing the lid to your products and covering them with plastic wrap before resecuring the lid.

27. Get Rid Of Gunk

A little known plastic wrap hack you’ll wish you knew sooner is using Saran Wrap to help get rid of leftover sticker residue. These days repurposing and upcycling are on the trend almost as much as saving money always has been. When you’re reusing things, though, one thing you’ll constantly come across is removing adhesives from stickers and labels. Make the chore easy on yourself with this little-known Saran Wrap hack.

28. Paint A Frottage Wall

Remodeling your house can be exciting. All the styles you love go rushing through your head as you sift through paint chips and magazines for inspiration. Unfortunately, the more ornate and textured finishes are usually out of the question on a DIY project, unless you’ve got the skill and experience to pull it off. If you are one of the more artistically challenged types though, you will be glad to know that you can achieve that old world frottage look with some simple plastic wrap. Check out this tutorial for the full details.

29. DIY Icy Votive

Looking for a way to add festivity and decor to your home this winter season without spending all your cash? Saran Wrap is here for you. When wadded up tightly and put in glass, plastic wrap looks a lot like blocks of ice with frozen bubbles. With some cedar leaves and cranberries, you can create this icy looking votive for next to nothing. Similarly, you can wad up some of the cling-film into clear glass candle holders on the bottom and sides, so when you light the candle it looks like an ice torch.

30. Keep Dry In The Snow

Kids love to play in the snow. Whether it’s from a snowball fight or making snow angels, your kiddo is bound to get covered in the freezing stuff. One way to keep your kid warm and dry without confining them to the house is to use Saran Wrap. Just wrap their pant bottoms, or their entire lower half, in saran wrap to keep the wet out and the warmth in.

31. Arts And Crafts Apron

If your kiddo feels like getting crafty with you, but you don’t want them to mess up their clothes, you can make them a quick apron. Just grab the Press N’ Seal plastic wrap and rip off a sheet big enough to cover their front. Then, simply press the wrap firmly to where you would like it to sit. Now you can get to crafting stress-free.

32. Keep Pets Out Of Plants

Everyone should have some potted plants growing in their house. They provide interest for the eye while they purify the air in your home, and help you de-stress on top of it. One negative, though, is that cats seem to love them and can’t keep their paws off. You can have the best of both worlds by wrapping the base in Saran Wrap, making sure to leave an opening near the center to water. It will help keep your soil moist and your kitten’s mittens won’t be able to dig up your pretty plants.

33. Roll Out Your Dough With Ease

If you avoid making homemade doughs because of the inevitable mess, this hack will have you unpacking your rolling pin in no time. When you’re ready to roll out your dough, place it on a lightly floured piece of Saran Wrap, larger than what you plan to roll the dough out to. Then, cover it with a second piece of Saran Wrap and get to rolling. The film cover will keep your rolling pin from sticking to the dough and making you want to scream.

34. Pastry Pipe Liner

If you’ve got a bake sale or party coming up and want to impress the crowd, this plastic wrap hack is definitely for you. To get multicolored frosting swirls on your goods, you just need Saran Wrap and your piping bag…and the frosting, of course! You can wrap two or more colors in plastic wrap separately and insert into the piping bag, pulling the ends of the plastic wrap through the opening. Get the full set of instructions over at Beki Cook’s Cake Blog.

35. Keep Paintbrush Bristles Soft

Save yourself some money on your next DIY project by preserving the life of your paintbrushes. Anyone who has gone to reuse an old paintbrush before knows how stiff those bristles can get. Once they’ve hardened, they clump together to form gaps of space at the end of the brush, making it frustratingly difficult to spread the paint evenly. Avoid this by wrapping the end of your paintbrushes in Saran Wrap after cleaning them, to keep those bristles nice and soft.

There you have it, perfect proof that some of the best inventions aren’t always on purpose. Did you know there were so many uses for this basic household item? Talk about a happy accident! Please SHARE this with your friends and family.